Green Resources

The bad news? Much of what we throw in the landfill is toxic. Rechargeable batteries, cell phones, TVs, computers, computer monitors, CDs/DVDs, and myriad other electronic gadgets pollute the soil and groundwater and take up landfill space

The good news? More and more, there are markets for the material contained within these gadgets and, therefore, there is profit to be made by companies in recycling them. The trick is to find a recycling location near you.

Hard to do? Well, maybe. But with the power of the internet, many things are simple that were once difficult. Below, we are compiling links to recycling information that we have found useful for greening our own lives.

The rather funky website gcycle can be a great resource for finding nearby drop-off locations for outdated and dead electronic gear, batteries, CDs, floppy disks — you'd be surprised what you can recycle! So don't chuck it out... gcycle it!

Yes, there is curbside recycling in Dekalb County, GA. After you sign up, mixed paper, glass, plastic, and metal will be picked up curbside every Wednesday. There is a $30 fee for this service.

Check out Reboot — they revitalize outdated and malfunctioning computers, give them to folks with disabilities, and provide follow-up training to recipients of the computers. What a great deal — you get a tax write-off, a person in need gets a computer, and the landfill sees none of it!

You'll love this web site if you just want to get rid of that stuff that might be useful — but isn't useful to you! Try listing it on FreeCycle! It's a sure-fire way to have that unwanted but potentially useful stuff disappear without sending it to the landfill.

As a congregation, we're trying to do our part at St. Bart's to conserve energy, and we've reduced the parish's summertime electrical consumption by 13%, but each of us as individuals has an obligation to do our part.

One of the easiest things you can do is to purchase and use compact florescent lightbulbs. These "spiral shaped" bulbs cost more than conventional bulbs, but they last many times longer, and save so much electricity they can pay for themselves in just a few months, depending on usage. The most important bulbs to change are the ones you use most frequently — so change those to CFLs today if you can!

Several things you should know about CFLs:

• some of them can take 30 to 60 seconds to reach their maximum brightness. So when you first install one and turn on the light, it might seems a bit dim. DON'T make a snap judgment that CFLs aren't bright enough. Give the bulb 60 seconds or so and then see what you think...
  

• CFLs contain mercury and should not be tossed in the trash — they should be recycled. Ikea will accept burned out CFLs for proper disposal. As CFLs become more common, there will be more pressure for better recycling options, so keep your eye's peeled and report those options back here to the wiki when you find them. Mercury content in NOT a reason to avoid CFLs. In fact, burning the coal necessary to power a conventional lightbulb releases more mercury than is contained in a CFL. For more information see this report on mercury in CFLs.
  

• CFLs should NOT be installed in fixtures controlled by dimmers!